Midwifery & childbirth, family

Archive for March, 2012

What with One Born Every Minute and Call the Midwife, midwives do appear to be very popular at the moment. Call it a busman’s holiday but I do watch both programmes. With OBEM I find myself shouting at the TV, ‘Get her off the bed’ being the popular refrain, but then occasionally there is a wonderful example of how well a woman’s body works and how supportive a midwife can be. Call the Midwife is just a lovely drama. Yes, there are many details which are not quite accurate but who cares when you are taken back to a much simpler time and midwives are depicted being ‘with woman’ rather than ‘with paperwork’. I have to admit to shedding the odd tear at the end of every episode but it did gladden the heart.

Me as a midwife? I’ve settled into my new role and have now reached a point where I can really enjoy it and as a result of this new found enthusiasm I have taken on another role until they have recruited a permanent body. It is only an extra 5 hours so, during term time, it’s not too problematic. Not sure how I will fare in school holidays but with a little juggling it should be okay. Community is as demanding as ever. Not the women, a pregnant woman or new Mum varies little. Okay, so they have far higher expectations than say 10 years ago, but most do acknowledge that it’s not the workforce’s fault that demand currently outstrips resources and so will take gripes higher up the ‘food chain’.

The family are all well, now. Louis had pneumonia, overlooked by the GP and, as she was also suffering with the flu bug, happy that Lou was not causing her any trouble and reassured by the GP’s assurances that it was a virus, by his Mother. Fortuitously I went round to administer TLC and take Lou off her hands and realised that her son was entirely non-rousable not just sleeping. Thankfully 2 days in hospital quickly saw him fit, well and full of beans. Son, who has an ileostomy, caught Norovirus from his youngest and ended up in hospital with severe dehydration. 5 litres of fluid later and he was well, although whilst monitoring him they found a ‘cardiac anomaly’, plus he has been told that the next part of his bowel surgery is urgent and he is dithering about having it done as their next baby is due in 10 weeks. The timing is rubbish, as it was when he had the initial operation, but hopefully he has learned from his previous procrastination, accepted that delay did no one any good in the long run, and will have a constructive discussion with the surgeon on Tuesday.